Birds - Wings

Something to keep in mind while drawing wings is that they have bone structures similar to arms, so I like to start my wings by drawing the basic arm position.

Next, we'll sketch in the basic wing shape. The wing shape and length will vary with the type of bird, but the secondary feathers will extend to the bird's rump.

Now, the primary feathers are the longest wing feathers and they gradually change in length and angle from the secondary feathers to match up with the angle of that "hand"-like part of bone after the wrist.

Again, the primary feathers are going to be shaped differently depending on the type of bird. Try searching for images of birds to see different wing types. There are also some great resources on bone structure and the layering of feathers if you do an image search for "bird wing" with Google. Also, on the dorsal (back) side of the wing as shown here, feathers are layered so the side closest to the bird is overlapped by the feather next to it.

And now for the layers of feathers that cover the primaries and secondaries! The apparentness of the layering also seems to differ from bird to bird, so you might want to look at photos of bird wings to get an idea of how you want to draw yours. Also keep in mind that the primary feathers are layered below the secondary feathers. So when the bird folds its wing, the primary feathers poke out from behind the secondary feathers.

And here is the finished result!